2023 Projects

2023 Contributors: Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Mosaic, Private Donations and City of Bradenton and Gulfport Supplemental Environmental Project(SEP) Awards

Philippe Park Seawall Habitat Enhancement
$94,500 | Pinellas County
Philippe Park has an extensive concrete seawall and is in the Old Tampa Bay watershed. Pinellas County designed five different seawall enhancement options to provide wildlife habitat, increase resilience, and allow for comparison of innovative options. The proposed project will result in final design plans, installation of the three southernmost options, and monitoring of the new habitats. The options include three different oyster reef components (reef balls, layer cakes, bags) and marsh grass plantings.

MacDill Air Force Base Mangrove and Saltern Restoration
$90,000 | Ecosphere Restoration Institute
This project will eliminate the final remnant mosquito ditching spoil mounds, specifically the ones that were associated with ditches that had bisected the former mangrove and even saltern communities. The upper reaches of these artificial ditches will be strategically blocked to allow tide inundation to restore saltern communities.

Advancing Vertical Oyster Garden Infrastructure
$70,000 | Gulf Shellfish Institute
Vertical oyster gardens (VOGs) are a form of green infrastructure which have become popular for resource management and community outreach objectives. However, a dearth of information exists about VOG success, their ecological benefits, and whether VOG infrastructure diverts attention from traditional forms of oyster reef restoration. Here, we combine scientific and practitioner expertise to evaluate VOG efforts within the Tampa Bay watershed, overcome rate-limiting steps to VOG production, and engage with communities about VOG benefits.

Frog Creek Wetland Restoration
$200,000 | Southwest Florida Water Management District
This District initiative consists of hydrologic and habitat enhancement and restoration of interconnected borrow pits located on the 119.5-acre District-owned Frog Creek Tract in Manatee County. Proposed enhancement of the borrow pits includes creation of littoral zones and freshwater wetlands and removal of invasive, exotic vegetation in the Frog Creek watershed, which drains to Terra Ceia Bay.

St. Pete Beach Living Shoreline Design & Permitting
$39,000 | Ecosphere Restoration Institute
The City of St. Pete Beach is working with Ecosphere and the HOA to produce signed and sealed engineering design plans to enhance and protect approximately 280 linear feet of shoreline in front of three (3) parcels co-owned by the City. This resultant signed and sealed engineering plans will be provided, free of charge, to the surrounding waterfront homeowners to potentially convert up to 5,000 linear feet of existing seawalls into living shorelines.

Lake Manatee Watershed Improvement Project, Phase 2
$172,709 | Manatee County
The Lake Manatee Watershed Improvements Project – Phase 2B Construction targets freshwater wetland and pine flatwoods restoration within the North Fork Manatee River basin. Design elements comprise one-acre forested wetland enhancement, removal of 4,995 cubic yards of backcast dredged materials from project area, contouring 1.25-acre non-forested treatment wetland with two (2) treatment pools, reconstruction of 575 linear feet headwater stream with five (5) treatment pools, and contouring 1.5 acres hydric pines, and enhancement of surrounding ten (10) acres of pine flatwoods buffers. The design plan addresses loss and degradation of wildlife habitats (i.e., tree mortality, hydrologic alterations, and sedimentation).